The Dubai Festival for Youth Theater forum was held virtually in the presence of members of the boards of directors of national theater groups from across the UAE, as well as a group of young artists and local theatrical talents, to discuss the festival’s content, presentation, and mechanisms for the 2022 edition.
Dr. Saeed Mubarak bin Kharbash, CEO of Dubai Culture’s Arts and Literature Sector, says: “With each edition of the festival, we attempt to develop the participating theatrical works.” This helps to raise the number of festival spectators while also promoting theatrical talent in Dubai, advancing Emirati performing arts on a global scale, and creating awareness of the relevance of theater and the artistic taste for it among all parts of society. The goal is to achieve our goal of developing a sustainable creative environment for the theatrical arts in Dubai that contributes to the emirate’s status as a global center for culture, a creative incubator, and a thriving hub for talent as well as the global economy.
Fatma Al Jallaf, Acting Director of Dubai Culture’s Performing Arts Department, says: “DFYT is a platform we provide for local talents to compete and achieve exposure. “The 13th edition will see the inclusion of youngsters in the festival’s committees, including the watching committee and jury, with a 10% weighting of total committee members. We will also allow national directors who operate private creative production businesses and are within the defined age categories to engage in youth theater work at a weighted average of 20% of the overall participation”
“Starting with this edition, theatrical productions will be comic in nature ‘satirical literature’ to strengthen the function of social theater and attract more viewers,” Al Jallaf stated. Because useful concepts expressed in an appealing comedic manner are typically more popular, the substance will still be with awareness and accountability. Even after the festival, we will continue to fund theatrical performances in artistic and cultural forums across the country to ensure that they reach the broadest potential audience.”
The forum’s participants discussed a variety of topics related to this year’s festival, including the mechanisms by which the festival’s activities will take place in a way that is consistent with social and economic conditions. The festival’s location and duration were also determined, with the festival taking place at ‘The Theater’ in the Mall of the Emirates from October 19 to October 26. The conference also discussed Dubai Culture’s financial support for the creation of participating works, as well as the terms and circumstances of participation, screenplay selection, performance requirements, and all other creative components of theatrical work.
DFYT 2021 will be scheduled from November 19 to November 25, 2021, with the most participation since the festival’s beginning. The festival featured 15 UAE national theater companies and finished with an awards ceremony at Expo 2020 Dubai, where 14 honors were given out in the categories of acting, directing, writing, production, fashion design, cosmetics, and sound engineering, as well as visual and lighting professionals.